Posts Tagged ‘Sally Supernova’

Lots of things pertaining to outdoor adventures get ratings. Systems and classes are used to determine the size, technical difficulty and rank activities. Rivers get rated from Class 1, easy going riffles to Class VI, there is a good chance you will die! Mountaineering, ice climbing and rock climbing all use different grading systems. Skiing runs use symbols from green circles to black diamonds. Even “fun” has a rating system. It isn’t restricted to adventure, but since it is possibly the only time you will hear of this rating system, we will stick with that. There are three levels. Type I is general all around fun, it’s fun plan, fun while it is happening and fun to reminisce about later over a beer. more...

Today was the opposite of yesterday. The morning started off idyllic, it continued through most of the day and then the wind and waves picked back up in the later afternoon as I was trying to make it to Verona Beach State Park and setup camp.

When the lake is calm, it is a glass surface as far as the eye can see. Maybe there are slow, spaced undulations, probably the leftovers from boat wake at the far side of the lake. In either case it’s extremely peaceful and the wide open space is a very different setting then the narrower canal or natural rivers that are part of it. more...

Yesterday evening I made it to Lock 23, it was the first of a three “uphill” locks on my eastward journey. It was quite a different experience. I had seen lock operators fill a chamber while standing topside, valves wide open, and it was a slightly scary prospect. Luckily when there is a vessel in the chamber they take it a little slower. Still, there was much more push and pull on Sally. I shot some video but since the GoPro app still isn’t working properly I can’t share.

I stayed overnight at the lock. It was out of the way from any populated place and had a great park like setting, trees, picnic tables and grills. more...

The previous night I camped at Lock 28B. It was a bit of a challenge getting Sally to come with me. Most of the locks have a small floating workman dock, somewhere. It could be before the lock chamber, after it, or up above the concrete wall and out of reach from the water. Before I started this trip I was asked if portaging around the locks would be an option, I think most people assume that they won’t operate for a lonely kayaker. I want to pass through each of them, but for whatever reason, timing, safety, etc. I wondered too. more...

The tugboat in this shot is the “Dewitt Clinton”, I passed it near the Adam’s Basin Liftbridge. Clinton was Governor and Senator for the state of NY as well as Mayor of NYC. He ran for president in 1812 against James Madison but narrowly lost. He was also responsible for making the Erie Canal project happen nearly 189 years ago.

I made it to that brewpub yesterday. The building was situated adjacent to a lift bridge, the dock suitable for kayaks was a few hundred yards away. Just like the one in Holley it was used by geese and ducks and quite a mess. more...

It’s cool out and there is a slight wind but overall the skies above are sunny and clear. I didn’t have any trouble getting Sally and myself down the rocks and back into the water outside the RV park this morning. A quick four miles so far this morning and I’ve made it to the little town of Holley. There is another lift-bridge to pass under here. The feel and appearance of this town fits with the experience I was imagining much of the canal to be. A slower pace of life. Just a quaint little place. There are docks for the motorized variety of boats, but there is also a lower dock for canoe and kayak travelers. more...

I decided to stay at the campground for a second night. I spent the extra day around camp emptying out the kayak completely as two of my hatches did take on a slight bit of water when I rolled and fell in the other day. All my gear was dry bagged so it wasn’t too big a deal. Things are neat and tidy again. I also used the time to setup the GoalZero solar panel and recharge batteries until the afternoon when clouds rolled in. I laid out all my food and planned out meals for tomorrow, separating it from the full cache. more...

This image doesn’t do justice to how hard it was raining for the first eight miles of paddling this morning. There was also a pretty thick fog and the wind kept shifting, headwind, tailwind, broadside. It just couldn’t make up its mind. Good thing I am used to the liquid sunshine from paddling around Oregon. With my paddling jacket on it really wasn’t too bad and just as the forecast predicted it cleared up around 4pm, so I wouldn’t have to setup camp and make dinner in the rain.

The couple of locations I had looked up this morning for camping tonight didn’t work out. more...

On the western end of the canal between Buffalo and Rochester there are sixteen lift bridges, there is on additional lift bridge in Fairport, just the other side of Rochester proper. The Erie Canal that exists today is not the same that was originally built in 1825, in fact it was enlarged twice. The first time between the years 1835 and 1862 and the second time in 1918. Each time, the canal was widened and deepened to allow larger cargo vessels and in some places the path was changed, abandoning the previous incarnation. More modern technologies in 1918, allowed the canal to overlap with natural waterways that could now be controlled with the locks, control gates, dams and diversions. more...